Tuesday, April 24, 2012

French onion soup is a very easy recipe. So, it’s a little ironic that this American French onion soup is an attempt to make things even easier. Then again, taking ideas that don’t need improving, and changing them anyway, is a time-honored American tradition.

Instead of going “French” on the onions, and cutting thin slices, we’re doing more of an extra large dice. I like the flavor and texture this cut provides, and there’s no danger of being chin-slapped by a long, steaming strand of onion.

To make the caramelizing step a bit easier, we’re going to use the oven. You can just toss the onions in, stir it once in a while, and wait for them to brown. You don’t have to stand there and watch as closely as you would on the stovetop, and since the oven is blasting the pan with heat from all sides, you get a nice even color.

The last Americanization is a departure from the classic gruyere cheese. My love for gruyere is borderline inappropriate, but keeping with the theme, I decided to go with a 50/50 blend of extra-sharp New York cheddar and mild Monterey Jack. It was wonderful, and a nice change of pace.

Regarding the ominous vinegar warning in the video – I think a little touch of sherry vinegar really balances the flavors perfectly, but like salt, everyone’s palate is different. So, if you haven’t used it before, it may be a better to just add the vinegar, to taste, to the finished soup. Drip a little in, taste, and adjust.

Anyway, spring weather means plenty of cool, rainy days, and what better way to enjoy those than with a nice bowl of onion soup? Whether American, French, or some other yet-to-be-discovered cultural variation, I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 2 1/2 quarts of soup:6 large yellow onions, cut in large dice

YUM. My recipe is very similar to yours. The one thing - and it's so silly - is that I have the worst time with the bread. I toast it and put it in but it always winds up sinking into the container. Perhaps too much cheese? I dunno.

This isn't a comment on your recipe, its on your website. The past few weeks your videos pause every twenty seconds or so, for about five seconds. I have no problems with other sites, and I even tried watching your videos from work, which has a super fast connection. I've concluded your popularity has surpassed your sites bandwidth. A good problem!

I noticed today that I'm not watching complete videos because it is annoying to have the interruption of the video stopping. So this problem could impact your business, because us websurfers are a fickle bunch.

Anonymous...the videos are hosted on YouTube. So the issues you are experiencing are due to their site speed, not FoodWishes'. Try starting the video, then after a second, pausing and letting it pre-load for about 5 minutes before you watch it.

I have an ingredient question. In your beef stock recipe, you add tomato paste. In your recent chicken broth recipe, you add ketchup. And in your older chicken stock recipe, you add neither. What's the deal with the tomato products and when/what should we use for making stock/broth?

I have to admit I'm a bit suspicious of the diced vs. Frenched thing since I think part of the charm of French onion soup is the stringy onion bits, but that's probably just me. I'll definitely give it a try.

One variation: I like making my FOS with Maui-style onions, which I think I picked up from a Ming Tsai recipe back when Food Network was actually about food. They're a bit sweeter than regular yellow onions.

I've also done it with Texas 1015s, so there is definitely room for variation.

I think you may have improved a French classic! I've always disliked the long onion strands as well. (Funny how you get so used to doing something one way that even slicing the onions differently seems revolutionalry :) The recipe looks wonderful and we'll definitely be having it soon (maybe even tomorrow, as they're predicting snow in Montreal!). The only change I'll make is adding a lot more red wine :) Thanks for another great recipe!

Made this yesterday for dinner, boy was it good! I have to admit I added some soy sauce and onion powder and Worcestershire to beef up the seasoning, the salt and pepper didn't quite do it. But my family just loved it and I will be making this again and again.

Hi Chef John,I've made this soup before with great success. It's a fantastic recipe, I love french onion soup.... it's just I usually strain out the onion because I have textual issues with onion floating in my soup. I have recently had some success hiding diced onion in various dishes and I was wondering (I know you can't provide me a definitive answer) if you could provide your best guess of what might become of the flavour of the soup if I used a fine dice instead of large chunks of onion (for the purpose of actually eating the onion and not having to strain it out). While I will probably wind up trying it all the same, Ithank you in advance for a educated guess.All the best,-A Very Strange Fan of Your Site.

Wow that Onion Soup looks great and I love it. I've never made it by browning the onions in the oven. And I was sure when I cooked at the Brown Derby ( Pennsylvania Restaurant ). It's been a while and I want to say provolone and mozzarella mix. I just found you yesterday looking for a lasagna recipe. I would love to bring you home with me. Are you married? :)~~~

It looks great. I'm going to get the ingredients minus the sherry, vinegar and cheese. I've only ever made it with the crouton like you did with mozzarella and provolone mix if my memory serves me correctly. I will try your cheese combo. I found you yesterday looking for a lasagna recipe and it looks yummy. I ordered the dish yesterday after I watched the video. I am in Pennsylvania so if you live close to me. I will make it and you can come have dinner with me. We can make our own desert. You know like canoli's or however you spell that word. I also noticed reading what you say about the Snuggle blanket. My nickname at the gaming sites I use is xXxSnugglesxXx. Have a great day, afternoon, evening wherever you live. :)~~~

Three mistakes. #1)caramelize the onions in your pot and skip the skillet(I use a 5-qt. LeCreuset dutch oven) and brown the onions a bit more. #2)Toast slices from a good baguette and rub each crouton on each side with a raw garlic clove. #3)Gruyere is the only cheese to use on this dish. Also, use some decent crockery to present the dish. Those souffle dishes don't have the same ambience. Other than that, good recipe.